Production of Picosecond, Kilojoule, and Petawatt Laser Pulses via Raman Amplification of Nanosecond Pulses

R. M. G. M. Trines, F. Fiúza, R. Bingham, R. A. Fonseca, L. O. Silva, R. A. Cairns, and P. A. Norreys
Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 105002 – Published 31 August 2011

Abstract

Raman amplification in plasma has been promoted as a means of compressing picosecond optical laser pulses to femtosecond duration to explore the intensity frontier. Here we show for the first time that it can be used, with equal success, to compress laser pulses from nanosecond to picosecond duration. Simulations show up to 60% energy transfer from pump pulse to probe pulse, implying that multikilojoule ultraviolet petawatt laser pulses can be produced using this scheme. This has important consequences for the demonstration of fast-ignition inertial confinement fusion.

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  • Received 1 February 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.105002

© 2011 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

R. M. G. M. Trines1,*, F. Fiúza2, R. Bingham1,†, R. A. Fonseca2,‡, L. O. Silva2, R. A. Cairns3, and P. A. Norreys1,§

  • 1Central Laser Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, Oxon, OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
  • 2GoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear—Laboratorio Associado, Instituto Superior Técnico, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
  • 3University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9AJ, United Kingdom

  • *Also at Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
  • Also at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
  • Also at DCTI/ISCTE Lisbon University Institute, 1649-026 Lisbon, Portugal.
  • §Also at Imperial College London, London, UK.

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Issue

Vol. 107, Iss. 10 — 2 September 2011

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